How can you find a business coach to help you grow your business? You want to succeed in your industry. You’ve tried several tactics that haven’t worked out. You’ve paid consultants in the past, only to see your bank account balance drop. You’re doubtful you can find the help you need at an affordable price.
There are three questions most small business owners ask when they seek help from a business coach:
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Does this coach know how to grow my business?
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How much will business coaching cost?
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How will I know this coach is the “right one” for me?
These are understandable questions, but they won’t result in finding the business coach who will ultimately help you become a successful business owner. Let’s cover each question and see how you can transform these questions into ones that WILL eventually help you find the right business coach.
Do you know how to grow my business?
Let’s cover this first question… “Do you know how to grow my business?” This question implies knowledge and experience that will directly apply to your business. While several smart business coaches exist worldwide, none know how to grow your business.
Let’s unravel this question a little further. Let’s say you want to grow a successful business that writes inscriptions on birthday cards. Of all the firms in the world, less than 1% of the population has experience writing sayings for birthday cards. Likely, 0.1% of that population is now coaching small business owners. This means that when you search on Google for business coaches who help birthday card writing businesses, you’ll come up empty.
I do believe that business experience is a must for any business coach. Just don’t look for experience in your specific marketplace. If you find a coach who has this experience, it’s a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that they understand your industry. The curse is that they have the same limiting beliefs that others, including you, have in your industry.
The only person who knows how to grow your business is YOU. But you say, “Jeff if I knew how to grow my business, I wouldn’t be looking for an experienced and knowledgeable business coach!”
The knowledge and experience you need is in business. It’s not necessarily in your industry. This business knowledge is often gained through business experience. Experienced and successful business leaders quickly see how your business can capitalize on opportunities. That’s the wisdom you seek.
My most successful clients have epiphanies during our coaching sessions that positively change their business forever.
Let’s rephrase your question into something that will get you headed in the right direction. How about this? “How can you help me unlock the potential in my business?”
How much will business coaching cost?
Cost is a great question, but it’s limiting. There are business coaches who cost $50 per session and business coaches who cost $5,000. It’s a popular notion that the more expensive business coach will help you more than the cheap business coach. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
To understand what you should pay for business coaching; you first must consider what you need as a business owner.
If you’re a business newbie, I suggest you don’t hire a coach. There are plenty of free or low-cost resources to help you learn enough about business to write and execute a simple business plan. I offer a very low-cost course called “Starting Your Business from Scratch.” This training platform is much less expensive than hiring a business coach.
You can enroll in a business coaching group if you’re a struggling entrepreneur who has completed a business plan but still needs help executing your business. These groups cost from $100 to $1,000 per month. The more expensive groups often include monthly individual coaching sessions and group meetings. When you’re struggling in your business, you have difficulty seeing your problems and solutions. In a group setting, you’ll see how others overcome their challenges giving you the confidence to do the same.
If you’re an established business owner but are convinced you’re missing opportunities. You should consider hiring a business coach for individual coaching sessions. Rather than focusing on the fees a prospective business coach charges, focus on the upside benefit you’ll receive if you’re successful in your coaching relationship. If you can increase profits by $1M per year, then paying $4,000 per session for four sessions a month is a good investment.
While the fees a coach charges you are a large part of business coaching, the most significant cost of hiring a business coach is your time and opportunity. If you’re paying a coach $1,000 per session, and your time is worth $500 per hour, you are paying $1,500 per session because you’ll also be investing your time. The even more significant cost is your opportunity cost. Suppose you have an opportunity to increase your company’s profits by $1M per year, and you spend six months with a business coach who doesn’t help you capitalize on this opportunity. In that case, you have lost $500k because you hired the wrong business coach.
If you engage with individual coaching, most coaches offer differing frequencies of coaching sessions. To quickly progress, arrange for weekly sessions. Monthly sessions are more appropriate for super-busy business owners.
Let’s now rephrase your question. Instead of asking, “How much will business coaching cost?” you should ask, “How much can I afford and expect to get back for my investment in business coaching?”
How will I know if you are right for me?
That’s a great question! The right coach will help you achieve the desired transition in your business. You can’t know this until you hire that coach and start working with him or her.
Most coaches offer a free consultation, discovery, or complimentary coaching session. I encourage you to complete a complimentary coaching session with a coach before you hire him or her. In this initial session, your prospective business coach will try to understand what you want to accomplish in a coaching relationship. A good business coach will ask you questions about your business, probe about your personality and emotional state, and try to understand your business acumen.
On the coach’s side of this conversation, they’ll try to discern if they want you as a client. As a business coach, I want to coach a business owner who desires to succeed and is willing to do the work it takes to be successful. I won’t coach someone who is close-minded and defensive.
On your side of this conversation, you must judge whether you trust the business coach’s ability to help you. You can ask questions about their business experience, coaching approach, results they’ve helped others like you achieve, and the typical questions about cost and schedule.
At the end of the complimentary session, your prospective business coach should give you a proposal on coaching. In this proposal, they should rephrase the challenges they heard during the call. They should describe how a coaching relationship with them will help you overcome those challenges. They should outline the cost and terms of their coaching agreement.
I recommend interviewing three prospective business coaches before deciding the right one for you.
What if you hire the wrong business coach?
As diligent as you are in the interview process, you may still hire a dud business coach. If this happens, make sure there is an affordable way to cancel your coaching agreement. The only way you’ll know you’ve hired a good business coach is if your business improves substantially during your coaching relationship. If it doesn’t, you need to cut ties and find one that works for you.
I hope this blog post helps you find the help you need.
If you’re a better listener than a reader, you can listen to this blog post on the MMBIZCAST podcast on Spotify.
